International Activities Related to Pesticides
Regulating pesticides involves engaging in international forums, responding to global pesticide issues, and working with regulatory partners in other countries.
Importing and Exporting Pesticides
EPA regulates both the import and export of pesticides:
- All pesticides that are intended to be used in the United States must first be registered with EPA before import. To learn more about the pesticide registration process, please consult the EPA Pesticide Registration Manual.
- All registered pesticides that are exported to other countries must bear the product label approved by EPA.
- The United States is a signatory to the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, which controls trade in banned and severely restricted pesticides. Ratification activities are underway; once ratified, the PIC Convention requirements may affect the existing export procedures for listed substances. Currently, the US participates as an observer in the conferences of the parties and in technical workings groups.
- Pesticides that are not approved - or registered - for use in the United States may be manufactured in the United States and exported.
- FIFRA Section 17(a) requires that exporters of unregistered pesticides first obtain a statement signed by the foreign purchaser indicating the purchaser understands that such pesticide is not registered for use in the U.S. and cannot be sold in the U.S. This statement is known as the Foreign Purchaser Acknowledgement Statement (FPAS). For more information on submitting FPAS please consult EPA’s webpage on Importing and Exporting Pesticides.
- The requirement is shipment-specific for a particular exporter, product, and purchaser.
- To ensure that national officials responsible for the protection of health and the environment are informed of this shipment, EPA transmits a copy of the statement to the Designated National Authority (DNA) (as designated by the United Nations program on Prior Informed Consent) in the receiving country.
It is EPA's intention to make the U.S. export notification program compatible with the international program, while meeting domestic legislative requirements. Revisions to the U.S. export notification program will be considered in the context of implementation of the PIC Agreement.
Find details and forms for Importing and exporting pesticides and devices.
Guidance on data requirements for tolerances on imported commodities in the United States and Canada.
USMCA Technical Working Group
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) Technical Working Group (TWG) on Pesticides is a collaboration among the regulatory government agencies from the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
The TWG was established in 1997 under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and continues under the USMCA. The TWG collaborates to streamline pesticide shipments between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The primary objective of the TWG is to develop more efficient and less expensive pesticide regulation and trade among the three countries while meeting the environmental, ecological, and human health objectives of the USMCA. Coordination of regulatory decision-making reduces the burden on both government and industry.
The EPA and Health Canada developed guidance for interpreting developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) data in support of a pesticide registration. This guidance helps scientists in the EPA and Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) evaluate these studies more consistently. View the guidance.
The technical working group meets periodically. See summaries of recent meetings:
- 2023 USMCATWG meeting.
- October 2022 USMCA TWG meeting.
- March 2022 USMCA TWG meeting.
- 2020 Trilateral Stakeholder Workshop and Conference on Pesticides meeting.
- 2019 NAFTA TWG meeting.
- 2017 NAFTA TWG meeting.
- 2015 NAFTA TWG meeting.
- 2014 NAFTA TWG meeting.
- 2013 NAFTA TWG meeting.
NAFTA Strategic Plan 2016-2021.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
OECD Working Group on Pesticides
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organization consisting of 38 industrialized countries in Europe, the Americas , Asia and the Pacific. Through its Environment Program, OECD works to help countries harmonize the data and methods used to test and assess pesticide risks, collaborate on pesticide registration and evaluation and help member countries to reduce the risks associated with pesticide use.
In 1992, OECD established the Pesticide Forum, now known as the Program on Pesticides and Sustainable Pest Management to help countries streamline the increasingly burdensome process of conducting new risk assessments for the hundreds of pesticides that have been on the market for years, and assessments for the new active ingredients in pesticides. It is the first forum for national pesticide regulators from developed countries to discuss common issues. The strategic objectives are:
- Protection of human health and the environment will be facilitated through harmonized science-based data requirements and methodologies for hazard and risk assessment.
- Mutual recognition of pesticide reviews will become the basis for international cooperation of pesticide regulatory bodies.
- Work sharing among regulatory authorities of OECD, and where appropriate also partner countries, will lead to resource saving and mutual trust.
- Integrated pest management (IPM) will become the accepted approach in all OECD member countries.
- Through enhanced cooperation, the fight against illegal international trade of agricultural pesticides will be strengthened.
- Non-tariff barriers to trade will be minimized.
Examples of topics we are working on with OECD include:
The following links exit the site:
- OECD Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) calculator.
- Biological pesticides.
- Minor uses of pesticides.
- Pesticide risk reduction.
United States - Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council
The U.S. – Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) was initiated in 2011 to promote economic growth, job creation, and benefits to consumers and businesses through increased regulatory transparency and coordination. Under the RCC, the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) will continue to work with Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) on a variety of projects. These projects include joint pesticide reviews, work sharing, and development of information technology solutions for applicants to facilitate work flow and the processing of pest control product applications submitted to both countries. The Memorandum of Understanding between Canada and the United States was renewed in 2018, and the U.S.’s and Canada shared commitment to regulatory cooperation has been reaffirmed as recently as of 2024. More information about the US – Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council.
RCC areas of collaboration include:
- Alignment of Pesticide Residue Chemistry
- Joint Review Process Improvements (New Chemicals/Uses)
- Pesticide Re-evaluation and Post-Market Joint Reviews
- Pollinator Protection and Neonicotinoid Pesticides
- Pest Control Emerging Technologies
- New Approach Methodologies (NAMs)
- Emerging Pesticide Issues
U.S. – Canada RCC 2019 workplan update (pdf)
Harmonized Product Chemistry Templates
Under the umbrella of the RCC workplan, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and the EPA developed harmonized product chemistry templates for use by registrants when submitting pesticide registration packages. The EPA and PMRA encourage applicants to use these templates to organize and summarize the product chemistry data for each product and/or registration package submitted to the corresponding regulatory agency. View:
Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues
Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) is the international forum for harmonizing maximum residue limits (MRLs) around the world. The CCPR is a subgroup of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which manages the development, establishment, and promotion of voluntary, harmonized food standards aimed at protecting consumers’ health and ensuring fair trade. USDA is the USG lead for Codex at the policy level and OPP leads the U.S. delegation to the CCPR. The CCPR has met annually since 1966 and has established over 5,000 MRLs for more than 300 pesticides; a typical annual session of CCPR establishes 300-400 MRLs. This includes new compounds, new uses of existing compounds, and reevaluation of existing MRLs. Similar to the United States, Codex uses a risk-based approach.